Drones Strike Power Plant, Substation, and Oil Refinery in Russia

On the night of October 31, attack drones targeted several energy facilities in Russia.

Videos of the strikes and the resulting fires were published on the Exilenova+ Telegram channel.

In the city of Oryol, a local thermal power plant was hit in a nighttime drone strike, a fact confirmed by the regional governor.

Preliminarily, the strike hit the open switchgear, after which residents of the city lost power. The moment of the attack was captured on video by local residents.

At the same time, the regional head stated that “as a result of the downing of a UAV, debris fell on the territory of the Oryol city thermal power plant, causing damage to power supply equipment.” He added that there was a “switch to backup lines” and that “repair work is underway to eliminate the consequences.”

The Oryol thermal power plant is the largest source of electricity and heat generation in the region. The plant’s installed electric capacity is 330 MW.

The open switchgear is the open-air part of an electrical substation or power unit where electricity is received, distributed, and transmitted from the station’s generators to power lines. After the strike, the city lost power.

Substation

That night, the Vladimirskaya electrical substation in the settlement of Energetik, near the Russian city of Vladimir, was also attacked. After the strike, a large-scale fire broke out, which was captured in photos and videos by eyewitnesses.

The Vladimirskaya electrical substation is a major energy facility in the region. Its capacity is about 4,010 MVA. The substation is a key hub – numerous power transmission lines with voltages of 110–750 kV branch out from it, serving the region’s power system. Its stable operation is critically important for the reliability and balance of Russia’s energy grid.

Oil Refinery

The Slavneft-Yaroslavnefteorgsintez (Slavneft-YANOS) oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl was also struck. It is the largest facility of its kind in northern Russia. NASA satellites detected fires at the refinery site.

The facility’s capacity is designed to process 15 million tons of crude oil per year. In terms of primary oil refining volumes, it ranks fifth among Russia’s oil refineries.

Among the consumers of the plant’s products are virtually all major enterprises in the Central and Northwestern regions of Russia, as well as airports, the Northern Railway Administration, and facilities of the military-industrial complex.